


The Essence of a Sibling

by cloakoflevitation



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5+1 Things, Avengers Family, Banter, Brother Feels, Brother dynamics, Brotherly Love, Bruce and Tony and Clint start trouble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Dynamics, Feelings, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I just really love sibling dynamics, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers (2012), Snark, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, but he does, loki pretends he doesn't care, not romantic - Freeform, the rating is just for swearing, this was a self-indulgent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 14:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19274860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloakoflevitation/pseuds/cloakoflevitation
Summary: My starting idea was like 5 times someone accuses Loki of caring about Thor and he denies it (but his actions of course confirm his love). And what I wrote is more or less that. Set sometime after The Avengers (2012). Loki's sentence is protecting Earth with the Avengers, so they're mostly in the Tower (but it doesn't really come up in the story).Basically it's just a lot of fighting and fun and feelings between the brothers with some snarky Avengers!family dynamics as well.***Warnings: The rating is because I swore a handful of times, but I did say the f word so... Just so we all know. And in the 5th scenario/scene, they're fighting and Thor gets impaled. It's not really graphic, but it is talked about (because you know I had to hurt Thor for an angsty Loki to worry over).





	The Essence of a Sibling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feast_of_Regrets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feast_of_Regrets/gifts).



> @Feast_of_Regrets, you posted something sweet on something kinda similar I wrote before and I really appreciated it so I thought I'd gift this to you! I hope you don't mind! <3

**1**

 

“Did you enjoy your vacation?”

Loki scowled. “I’d hardly call it that.”

“Oh come on,” Tony grinned, “You practically toured Asia.”

“I was forced to go. Dragged around, like a child, made to do the bidding of my keepers.” Loki’s tone seemed more disgruntled than truly angry, but he sounded like he was working himself up to some kind of dramatic speech; Tony hoped that wasn’t the case. “When I was sentenced to aid your wretched team, I had low expectations of what that would entail, but somehow you have managed to sink even further. Imagine the humiliation, the sheer _boredom_ of being an immortal god yet reduced to solving petty quarrels of a race so far beneath –”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Tony interrupted him. “We get it. Puny mortals. You’re cooler than us. Heard that one before.”

Natasha turned off the TV and joined the conversation. “Tell us about your trip.” When she received no answer, she offered, “What did you think of the food? The architecture? Clint told me you wandered around some.” Clint hadn’t quite said it like that. He had in fact been much louder and more explicative when describing the way Loki had simply disappeared for a few hours in several of the cities they had been in, abandoning orders, the mission, protocol...

“It was… tolerable.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you got? Tolerable?”

Loki sighed and crossed his arms. “I visited a temple that had traces of magic. I enjoyed that much.”

“See? It wasn’t all bad.”

“Excellent.” Loki briskly tried to move the conversation on. “Now where is Thor?”

“The rest of your trip,” Natasha pressed. “Surely you met people.” She tilted her head and smiled. “Tell us about it.”

Loki gave her an unimpressed look. “Why is it you insist on interrogating me after any outing beyond this tower?”

“It’s just small talk.” She blinked, widening her eyes slightly, her body language open and inviting. It was easy to forget sometimes how good she was at her job with how effortless she made it look.

The fridge door shut, causing the three of them to turn and find Bruce, who had gone unnoticed before. He was holding a box of apple juice in his hand. “She’s checking your mental state.” He stuck a little bent straw into the box and continued in his particular brand of cynical humor, “They check mine too, so don’t feel so special.”

Loki’s eyes widened. “You can’t possibly be serious.”

Tony gave him a deadpan look, “Oh yeah, because checking to make sure you haven’t decided to kill us all is such an _outrageous_ idea. You would _never_ try something like that.”

“Nevermind.” Loki looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then sighed. He repeated his earlier question in a tired voice, “Where is Thor?”

Tony raised a hand, flicking his fingers. The motion was for JARVIS.

Natasha crossed her arms, “Why are you looking for him?”

“That is none of your concern.” After a tense moment and a lot of staring between the two, Loki announced, “I’ll find him myself,” and stalked down the hallway, headed towards the elevator. When the doors opened, Thor was standing in front of him.

“JARVIS has informed me that you are looking for me.” Thor glanced briefly over Loki’s shoulder to see Natasha, Bruce, and Tony hovering at the end of the hallway in the doorframe. They ducked out of sight when he saw them. He quickly turned his attention back to Loki, more concerned than before. “What is so urgent?”

Loki held pulled a box from a pocket dimension, holding it out in his hand. It was solid black, roughly big enough to hold a grapefruit.

Thor blinked. “What’s this?”

Instead of responding, Loki just thrust the box more towards Thor.

“For me?” Thor looked between the box and his face, hesitating to accept it. He seemed equal parts suspicious and surprised.

Loki shrugged, his voice carefully, pointedly indifferent. “I was travelling.” It was said almost as an explanation, a defense.

Thor took the box, offering a quiet, “Thank you.” He tilted his head and gestured for Loki to join him in the elevator. “Spar with me,” he implored impulsively. “I could use a challenge.”

Something soft crossed Loki’s face, but with both of them facing forward, Thor missed it. “Careful Thor, lest someone think you’re complimenting me.”

Thor shook his head with exaggerated seriousness. “I would never.” He glanced at Loki out of the corner of his eye and half-way smiled, leaning forward to press a button. “How was your trip?”

The elevator doors had closed before the others could make out Loki’s response.

Tony and Bruce shared twin grins. “Aww, he’s got a soft spot.”

Natasha was more neutral. Tony raised an eyebrow at her and all she said was, “He could be playing us.”

Bruce pointed out, “You think everyone’s playing us.”

“Comes with the job description.”

“Oh so just a healthy amount of paranoia then.”

“JARVIS?” Tony changed the subject before the other two could start another philosophical, or worse, psychological debate. “Tell me you got all that on tape?”

“Of course, Sir.”

“ ‘Atta boy, J.” He nudged Bruce with his elbow, eyes practically glowing with amusement. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re starting to grow on each other.”

“What?” Natasha asked dryly, “After a thousand years?” Her expression said she very much doubted it.

 

 

* * *

 

**2**

 

Bruce’s hand hovered over a piece, not quite touching, before he pulled back, leaving the piece untouched. He opened his mouth and moved his hand forwards, only to catch himself again. He shifted to place his other arm on his knee, propping his head up in his hand.

“Give it up, babe,” Tony cooed in a sticky–sweet voice. “I’ve got you beat this time.”

Bruce didn’t look up from the board or acknowledge Tony’s words. After a second, a slow grin spread across his face as he moved his remaining bishop. “Checkmate in four.”

The smirk fell off Tony’s face. “What?” He leaned forward to inspect the pieces. After a moment, he tilted his king over and slumped back in his chair. “I can’t believe this,” he grumbled, watching Bruce pick up his teacup with a proud, pleased smirk. “You know, I won every game before I started playing with you.”

Bruce looked around the room, at Steve and Natasha playing risk, at Thor and Clint playing MarioKart. “How can I put this?” He leaned closer to Tony with a conspiratory twinkle in his eyes. “There’s a certain… intellect, required for this game. There are few who can fully master it. The others…” he trailed off, shrugging pointedly.

“Aw, I’m flattered.”

Bruce just sat back. “Oh no, I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear. I’m afraid you’re not a part of this… upper echelon of chess players.”

Tony’s eyes widened comically, and he threw a hand over his reactor in mock outrage, although the effect was somewhat diminished by his chuckles. “You _wound_ me.” He turned to look towards the others, calling, “Hey guys! You’ll never guess what Bruce said–”

He was cut off by an alarm ringing overhead. Everyone was on their feet in a split second, running to grab armor and weapons. Bruce simply sighed, setting his teacup down on a coaster on a table next to his armchair. He folded his glasses and slipped them into his pocket.

Tony tapped the bracelets on his wrist, calling his suit.

Thor walked over to the windows, pressing the buttons on a panel on the wall that slid the glass out of the way. He stepped outside onto the balcony and raised Mjolnir above his head. Lightning struck him and after the flash, he stood dressed in his armor.

Loki teleported into the center of the room, looking like he had just woken up. He gave Tony and Bruce a sour look. “At the rate this wretched realm comes under attack, it’s a wonder any of you are still alive.” A magic green-tinted light started at his head and moved down to his feet, revealing his armor as it went.

The whir of the quinjet could be heard in the distance, and Bruce, Tony, Loki, and Natasha, who had just arrived, moved to join Thor out on the balcony.

Loki was grumbling under his breath the whole time about Asgard and atonement.

Natasha looked at Tony quizzically. “Your suit?”

He tapped his wrist, nodding in acknowledgement to Clint and Steve as they walked up behind Bruce. “In bound. Approximately 17 seconds. You’re late, boys.”

Clint flipped him off. “I don’t see you dressed.”

“JARVIS,” Steve asked, one hand holding his shield, the other perched on his hip, “What are we up against?”

A hologram flickered into the air, projected from Tony’s watch. It was a creature that looked unlike anything he had seen before, clearly alien. JARVIS started to rattle off preliminary data along with the creature’s location.

Loki swore under his breath, quickly walked over to Thor, and drew sigils in bright green on his chestplate. They pulsed and then faded.

Clint raised an eyebrow and held up his hand in the air, gesturing between the brothers.

Thor answered his unspoken question, as Loki performed the same procedure on himself. “An abilisk feeds on magic. Although I do not possess near as much as Loki, I would still be a target for the abilisk. He has essentially locked my magic from… er… extraction.”

Bruce and Tony exchanged glances, and Tony could tell Bruce had just as many questions as he did, but it clearly wasn’t the time.

Clint grouched, “How sweet,” at the same time Tony teased Loki, “Aw, you must really love him, huh?” The sound of the quinjet grew closer, nearly alongside the balcony now.

Loki looked briefly up at the sky in a very unamused manner, only to startle when Thor threw an arm around his shoulders. “Loki and I may have our differences but –”

Thor cut off as Loki shoved him off the side of the balcony. His cape flapped as he fell, and then there was no sound. Loki whirled around, gaze locked on Clint next. He knocked the archer across the balcony with a blast of green energy, sending him falling over the opposite side. He gave Steve and Natasha warning looks, even as they raised their weapons. With a flick of Loki’s hand, Tony went sliding off the edge.

Despite the angry, concerned looks directed his way, Loki grinned ferally. “I suppose they will have to join the rest of you there.” He disappeared a second later.

Natasha swore under her breath as the quinjet slowly rose to match the elevation of the balcony. Clint was lying with his back on the floor, his feet haphazardly up the walls, scrambling to stand, as if the quinjet had rolled over on its side to catch him (and it probably had). He leaned over and swiped his bow from the ground as Bruce, Steve, and Natasha joined him on board. He swore loudly, “Did I mention I really fucking hate Loki?”

Tony had barely fallen a story when the suit encased him. “Thanks, J,” he breathed, his heart still pounding. “We should work on that response time.” As he stabilized, he looked around to see Thor spinning his hammer, heading off towards the east side of the city, where the creature had been spotted. JARVIS turned on his audio, and Tony demanded, “WHAT THE HELL, LOKI?”

Laughter came back over the comms.

Clint readily joined in on Tony’s anger. “WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU LITTLE–”

“Do try to hurry,” Loki drawled with humor in his tone. There was an unhuman roar and then a slicing sound. “I’d hate for you to miss out on the fun.”

“You’ve started without us!” Thor bemoaned, sounding put out, but soon the others could hear the sounds of the fight over his comms as well as Loki’s.

Tony sighed, flying over the rooftops of the city. “JARVIS, mute their comms unless they start talking again. And remind me to teach those idiots how to use them properly.”

 

 

* * *

 

**3**

 

“No, no, wait, you can’t gang up on me!”

“But surely a warrior of your skill needs no assistance.”

Tony scowled at Thor’s words, as Clint sniggered, “You walked right into that one. Besides, weren’t you just telling us you could kick our asses?”

“Yes, _asses,”_ Tony shot back, “Individual, not collective. Taking you both on at once is unfair.”

“Stop whining and pick a character already.”

Tony slumped over in his chair, letting his head hang off the edge of the armrest. “Oh the betrayal!” he moaned dramatically, even going so far as to throw an arm over his forehead. “The cruelty of my would-be friends!”

Something moved at the edge of his vision, and when he realized what – who – it was, he sat up quickly. “Loki!”

The mage in question tilted his head expectantly.

Thor seemed to catch Tony’s line of thought. “Join us! Tony needs a partner if he hopes to defeat us.”

Tony made a face at Thor.

“As _charming_ as that sounds, I have to be anywhere but here.”

“Think of it as team bonding.”

Loki gave Tony a very unimpressed look at his comment.

“Don’t you want a chance to take down Thor and Clint? In the game, of course,” Tony hastily amended his offer, holding up his controller and wiggling it in the air for emphasis.

Something lit up in Loki’s eyes, and Tony knew they had hooked him. After a few more attempts to persuade him, he allowed himself to be cajoled into sitting on the sofa. Thor tossed him a controller, and then they started the game.

[Mario Party: Thor is Princess Peach. Loki is King Boo. Tony is Mario. Clint is Rosalina.]

They briefly explained the premise of the game to Loki, and then they started. Loki caught on fairly quickly, much to Tony’s delight. The teams were pretty evenly matched, but in the end, Clint and Thor earned more bonus stars and won the game.

“HA!” Clint grinned. “As the kids say, get wrecked!”

Thor laughed, but Loki and Tony weren’t amused. “Really?” Tony couldn’t help but ask.

“Hey, I have kids,” Clint defended himself, “I go on the internet. I know the slang. I watch the vines.”

 _“Please_ don’t say ‘the vines’. I know you know better.”

Thor stood up and took everyone’s controllers and put them away. Then he walked back to stand in front of the sofa where Loki was sitting. He stuck his hand out, which Loki took reluctantly. Thor pulled him to his feet, clapping a hand onto his shoulder. “Well played.” His eyes gleamed with mischief and his mouth stretched into a cheshire grin. “After all, not everyone can be as good as _I_ am.”

In a split-second, Loki disappeared, blinking back into existence behind Thor. He gave him a hard shove, sending Thor falling face-first into the sofa. With a snap of his fingers, Thor’s hair turned bright green. And then Loki disappeared again.

Thor laughed brightly as he struggled to sit up. “Loki does not take well to losing, but oh… it amuses me.” Clint pointed at his hair, and when Thor realized its new hue, his humor quickly dissipated. “JARVIS?” he asked through clenched teeth as he stalked towards the elevator. “I require feathers and the location of my brother.”

Tony looked at Clint with a half-amused, half-surprised expression. He wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he knew it would be hilarious. “Brotherly love, am I right?”

“That’s one way to put it.” The edges of Clint’s mouth turned up in a shit-eating grin. “But hey. Who beat whose collective ass now, huh?”

Tony crossed his arms. “J, you still have the video of Clint drunk off his ass crying because snakes don’t have arms, right?” He arched an eyebrow, silently challenging Clint.

“Indeed I do, Sir.”

Clint’s eyes widened slightly. “You wouldn’t.”

“Please send a copy to all the others.”

There was a tense second and then: “Done.”

Clint jumped off the sofa, but Tony was already halfway to the elevator. “A little help here, JARVIS!”

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

Tony grinned over his shoulder as he threw himself into the elevator. “Gotta catch me first.” He was bold enough to wink.

Clint skidded to a halt as JARVIS slid the elevator doors closed. “This is war, Stark!”

 

 

* * *

 

**4**

 

“Sir, Thor has just arrived on the roof.”

Tony hummed absently. He nudged Dum-E’s arm out of the way. “You can’t see a fire if you’re that close to it,” he mumbled, gesturing for Dum-E to roll back some. Dum-E rolled back about three inches and then immediately moved his arm back to where it was before.

JARVIS continued, “He’s asked you and the others to join him.”

“Why? Did he say?”

There was a pause, and Tony realized JARVIS had asked Thor. “He would like to discuss what he learned while on Asgard.”

Tony switched his soldering iron off and set it aside. “Well, I wasn’t getting much done here anyway.” He shot a dirty look at Dum-E, whose claw dropped slightly. Fondness for the bot crept up on him, and he sighed. “Thanks for your help.” He patted the robot’s side, making  the bot beep excitedly. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “J, will you shut everything down in here? I doubt I’ll be coming back tonight after this.”

“Very good, Sir.”

As he walked to the doors, holograms flicked out of existence from the air around him. The lights dimmed, and the gauntlet he had been working on was picked up by automated arms and retracted back into its case with the rest of the suit of armor it belonged to.

“Might I say your sleeping habits are becoming almost normal.”

He held up a hand to his reactor with an air of mock indignation. “That stings. Never use ‘normal’ to describe me.”

A loud crash made him turn around. He watched in faint horror as U slowly rolled away from the soldering iron, which was now on the ground, and Dum-E held up his fire extinguisher.

“Hey!” Both bots stopped moving. “Dum-E, don’t you dare,” Tony warned, “Nothing’s on fire.” Dum-E slowly lowered the extinguisher. Then Tony turned his stern look towards U. “U, don’t touch the iron. Nothing has to be put away, I’m coming back for it eventually. It’s fine to leave it out.”

U chirped, rolling backwards a few inches and then forwards.

The edges of Tony’s mouth pulled up in a smile that he tried his best not to let show. Gods, his kids were a mess. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning, bright and early.” With a wave of his fingers, he turned and walked out the lab doors. Once he was in the elevator, he told JARVIS, “Make sure they get to their charging ports.”

“Of course.”

When the elevator opened, he realized he was the last to arrive. All the others were sitting on sofas and chairs or standing in the living room of the common floor.

“Nice of you to join us.”

Tony shot Clint a dirty look and apologized to Thor, “Sorry, the bots kept me.” He perched himself on the edge of the armchair Bruce was sitting in. “What’s up?”

“I was summoned to Asgard to be warned of a threat to Midgard. The Allfather has discovered a group of Kronans headed here, intent on causing chaos.”

“The Marauders?” Loki asked from where he had draped himself across a sofa.

“Aye.”

“Will they never learn?” The brothers shared entertained smiles.

Bruce, who had been sipping something that smelled floral and quite frankly disgusting, in Tony’s opinion, looked between them curiously. “So you’ve fought these guys before?”

Thor nodded and said he had, but Loki’s face grew pinched. “No.”

Clint raised his eyebrows and demanded, “Then what was that thing between you and Thor?”

A grin sharp enough to cut glass spread across Loki’s face. “I was in prison when Thor faced them.”

Thor’s eyes widened slightly, a look of exasperation settling over his face. “Regardless,” he said firmly, attempting to steer the conversation back, “It should not take more than a full day to deal with them. However, the Marauders are off-world, beyond the Nine.”

Natasha uncrossed her legs and recrossed them with the other leg on top. “Where are they?”

“Currently? On a realm not far from Vanaheim. But I’ve been told they will leave within three days.”

“Is that enough time to reach them?”

Thor waved off Steve’s question. “The time dilation will work in my favor, but in any case, Heimdall will transport me there with the Bifrost.”

Steve frowned at his words. “We’re coming with you, of course.”

“No.” Some of them started to protest, but Thor wouldn’t hear it. “I appreciate the offer, and I respect your skills as warriors, but this fight goes beyond your capabilities.” He turned to look at Bruce. “I came back to ask for your help, Bruce,” he said, before turning to look at Loki, “And yours as well, brother.”

Clint crossed his arms. “Why do they get to go?”

“Yeah, I wanna go to space too,” Tony grumbled petulantly, making Bruce quietly scold him, “Not the time.”

Thor gave Clint a somber look. “One punch from a Kronan and your heart would be crushed. Or your lungs would collapse. Or you would lose a limb. Or your head. You are far too fragile - even you Steve - to engage them.” He glanced at Bruce. “The Hulk is the only one of you whom I would risk.”

“And me, apparently.” Loki tilted his head, clearly irked.

“Loki…” Thor opened his mouth, a slightly hopeless expression on his face, before Bruce cut in, his voice weary and resigned, “How long will we be gone?”

“You’ll come?”

Bruce shrugged. “That’s what we do, isn’t it?”

Tony laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing.

Thor’s expression brightened, a smile spreading across his face when Bruce agreed. “Thank you. We will leave at first light tomorrow, and we should return the morning after.”

Everyone’s gaze shifted to Loki, who frowned. “As much as I would love to,” he stood up, stretching as he did, “I’m afraid I must decline. I already have plans.”

Thor asked dryly, “And what plans would you be referring to?”

“I have to do nothing. Alone. In my rooms. Terribly sorry,” Loki replied with a laugh, smoothing down the front of his clothes from his stretching, not looking the least bit sorry at all, “But I’ve been planning this for weeks now.” He slowly grew transparent, teleporting somewhere, with the echo of his chuckles ringing in the air. It was all rather dramatic, with more flair and showmanship than usual.

Clint jumped up from the couch suddenly, stalking towards the kitchen, muttering, “Gods I hate that guy.”

Natasha followed after him, pausing for a moment to tell Tony in a low voice, “You may as well buy an ice cream shop at the rate his stress eating is going.”

Steve walked over to Thor, putting a hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to turn and walk towards the windows. “Now Thor… I know what you said, but I think you should consider letting me tag along…” Tony could hear their conversation continue even as they moved further away from the sofas and chairs.

He nudged Bruce, jerking his head towards the elevator. “Alright, just because I’m too _fragile_ to go to space doesn’t mean you can’t collect data for me.” Bruce stood up, and they walked side by side down the hallway. “Let’s get you packed with some equipment.”

A soft, fond grin spread across Bruce’s face, even as he ducked his head. “I guess I’ll need a camera.”

“Obviously. A magnetometer. Probably a magnetograph too.”

Bruce agreed, nodding sagely. “A spectrometer.”

“And a gravimeter, _of course.”_ Both scientists shared laughs. “I think an interferometer too…”

*

When Bruce arrived at the roof the next morning, Loki and Thor were both already there. Loki was standing with his arms crossed, a nonchalant look on his face, but Thor was beaming.

Smirking, Tony elbowed Bruce and gave a pointed look in Loki’s direction. “I guess Nat was right.” He had said it quietly, but Loki turned to them.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Wasn’t talking to you, Twinkle Toes,” Tony snarked back, but Bruce gave a wry grin. “She said you’d show up.” He glanced sideways at Tony, with a look of something in his eyes, and that’s when Tony knew Bruce was in a mood to cause trouble. “After all, everyone knows how you _really_ feel about Thor.”

Tony was sure he saw Loki’s eye twitch. “Please,” Loki spread his hands out in front of him, something dangerous and challenging flashing in his glare. His smile was all teeth. “Enlighten me on my own feelings.”

Bruce shrugged. “You pretend not to, but you love him.”

Thor tried vainly to suppress his laughter, turning it into a cough. Tony burst into giggles on the inside, hiding his amusement behind his tinted sunglasses on the outside. Bruce continued to stand there with a poker face, looking for all the world as if he was unaware he was pushing Loki’s buttons.

Loki glared hard enough to burn a hole in Bruce’s head and hissed, “Don’t be dull.” He clapped Thor on the back, hard, and Thor stumbled forward, abruptly cutting off his strangled cough-laughs. “I could hardly let Thor die without being there to witness it first hand.”

 

 

* * *

**5**

 

“Thor’s down! Can someone – ergh – I have to – urgnh – push these guys back–”

“On it, Cap.” Tony dodged one of the creatures following him and shot a repulsor beam at another. He quickly did a 180 in the air as JARVIS directed him to Thor. He dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. Thor was lying on his back, his limbs motionless and his eyes squeezed shut. There was a piece of… well… _something_ sticking out of his chest.

“Shit,” Tony swore, his grimace only deepening as he read JARVIS’s analysis. It was bad. “Thor, buddy, you’re gonna be okay,” he lied, his assurances sounding too panicked to be true. “We’re gonna get EMTs. We’re gonna get you to the ER. Don’t worry.”

There was a horrible sickening sound that he belated registered as Thor’s wet laughter. He blinked and rolled his head slightly, groaning as he did. It took a moment for his gaze to focus in on Tony in the suit. “Tis but a scratch.”

“Save your bravado.” Tony jerked his head up to see Loki, who had teleported to them. In a heartbeat, he had crouched down next to Thor, his hands flitting across what was left of Thor’s chestplate. Tony saw fear in his eyes even as he hissed, “You’re _dying_ you fool.”

“I do not fear what awaits me.”

“Yes, yes, _Valhalla,”_ Loki dismissed angrily. His fingertips touched Thor’s forehead, and Tony saw green magic swirl like smoke around his hand. Loki’s gaze snapped up to meet Tony’s. “I’m going to pull it out. He will require the wound be cauterized.”

“No wait – should I – or stitches – should we – I mean –” Tony struggled to get out all his protests of this spectacularly terrible idea, but Loki didn’t seem to be listening.

 _“Stark!”_ Loki growled, one hand pressed against Thor’s shoulder and the other hovering next to the metal sticking out of Thor’s chest. The intensity of his gaze snapped Tony out of his panic.

“Right okay, I’ll hold him –”

Loki waved him off with the hand not holding Thor. “No, he could kill you.”

“And he won’t kill you?”

Loki didn’t answer. He took one deep breath and then pulled out the metal in the blink of an eye. Thor screamed, a sound that struck fear into Tony’s heart. He struggled to sit up, and Loki quickly tossed aside the metal to press him back against the ground. One of Thor’s hands found its way to Loki’s arm, and Tony saw him wince at Thor’s grip.

Wild, panicked eyes met Tony’s. “His wound,” Loki implored him desperately, and Tony finally noticed how much more it was bleeding now. “Can you or can’t you –” He cut off as Tony crouched next to him.

“J?”

“Fire at will, Sir.”

Tony carefully aimed a repulsor at Thor’s bleeding chest, wincing at the sounds Thor made. JARVIS narrowed the beam but kept the energy levels high, effectively burning and sealing Thor’s skin. It was far from pretty, but after a few tense seconds, Thor wasn’t bleeding out anymore. Tony wasn’t sure, but he thought Thor might have lost consciousness at some point.

He sat back when it was done, ripping off his helmet. “Never ask me to do that again.” The smell of burnt flesh reached him, making him throw an arm over his mouth and nose. His voice came out muffled into the crook of his elbow. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” He shoved himself backwards, tendrils of shock and panic clenching around his chest. “Why couldn’t we just stitch him up? That’s why we have field medics!”

Loki didn’t look up from Thor, something haunted in his eyes. “But could your doctors have replaced the blood he would have lost? None of you are Asgardian, and neither am I. Could you _assure_ me he would have lived?” He bit out the words as his hands glowed green, magic seeping into Thor. Tony hoped it was some kind of pain relief; Thor was going to need it. “He can heal from a burn, but from a wound of that size… the bloodloss...” He thought he saw tears in Loki’s eyes, but he blinked and they were gone.

Tony struggled to stand, grabbing his helmet as he went. He could hear the comms coming from the speakers inside. “I suppose you’re right –”

“Of course I am,” Loki snapped. He sighed and the tension in his shoulders bled out. His voice was quieter when he admitted, “This was messy and painful but he will _live._ And that is all that matters.”

Tony pulled his helmet back on, eyes scanning the information that JARVIS presented him about the rest of the team. “You know you can’t do stuff like that to normal people. They’re just as likely to die.”

Loki scoffed. “I’d hardly call Thor _normal.”_

“Yeah, yeah, the whole gods speech again.” He activated the repulsors in his palms and feet so he was hovering in the air. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you cared about him.”

Loki sent him a withering glare in response.

Tony shot off into the sky, making his way towards Clint and the Hulk two blocks over.

“JARVIS, connect me in to everyone’s comms. Make sure Loki’s are on.” A window with the audio for the comms appeared on his HUD. “Alright everyone. Thor’s probably not feeling so hot, but he’s patched up for now. We still have a delusional supercriminal to stop so whenever you’re finished playing nurse, _Loki,_ feel free to join the rest of us.”

Some of the suggestions Loki had for him made color rise in his cheeks. He heard strangled, suppressed laughter and a few scandalized gasps over the comms from the others. It wasn’t often that he could see the family resemblance between Thor and Loki, but their hot tempers were matched only by each other.

When Loki grew tired of spitting obscene insults, a very tired sounding Thor hoarsely croaked out, “I’m so glad I woke up in time to hear your delightful voice, brother.”

 

 

* * *

 

**+1**

 

Tony was walking down the hallway when he thought he heard someone crying. He slowly walked towards one of the doorways on the left, the door ajar, hearing someone else softly shushing the crying person. He stopped outside the doorway, not quite looking in. Depending on who was inside and how private of a moment this was, he didn’t want to cause any unnecessary embarrassment.

“It’s okay.” That was Loki’s voice.

Someone made a horrible sniffling noise and mumbled something Tony couldn’t make out.

Loki teased, “I hope you aren’t going to carry on like this. We’ve barely started.”

“But…” and it was Thor’s voice that sobbed pitifully, “But they – they _loved_ each other! And now she’s gone!”

“Everyone dies.”

“But now he’s – he’s all _alone.”_

“I’m sure he’ll be quite alright.”

“Loki – I…”

“Oh come here.” He heard a sigh and then some shuffling. “You’re such a sap.”

Music came softly from the room and then voices other than Thor or Loki’s. When Tony dared to peek into the room, he saw the movie Up playing on the TV, still in the beginning scenes. Thor and Loki were sitting on a sofa, the backs of their heads close enough to suggest some level of snuggling was occurring.

Tony couldn’t help but smile to himself, and he carefully stepped away from the darkened room and continued down the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :D
> 
> Comments mean the world to me <3


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